Do not politicise Pawar-Modi meet, says BJP

New Delhi: A day after Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar confirmed that he had in fact met BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in January, the BJP and the Shiv Sena now insist that the meet should not be politcised.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that a meeting between a state’s CM and a Central Minister should not be blown out of proportion. “Sharad Pawar has said the right thing. If one state’s CM meets a Central Minister it need not be politicized,” he said.

The BJP welcomed Pawar’s clarification on the matter. It leader Kirti Azad said, “What Pawar has said is right. All of us are Indians. There is nothing wrong in meeting one another. I welcome Pawar’s statement.”

Sharad Pawar had on Saturday accepted that he had met Gujarat CM and BJP’s PM nominee Narendra Modi in January. Pawar and his party had earlier refuted that he ever met Modi.

Pawar said on Saturday, “I don’t know why me meeting Modi was made out to be such a big deal. Its not like I meet someone from Pakistan or from China.”

On January 31, Pawar had slammed as “completely mischievous” and “baseless” a media report about his meeting with BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi here.

“News of my meeting with Narendra Modi in New Delhi on January 17 appeared in a newspaper. (It) is completely mischievous, baseless and false,” the Agriculture Minister said on micro-blogging site Twitter.